"A canicular sky, at four o'clock, summer, boats flowing by to the side, a group of chance Sunday visitors enjoying the fresh air among the trees; and these forty-odd persons [in the painting 'La Grande Jatte' are fixed in a hieratic and simplified composition, they are rigorously drawn, of some we see the backs, some we see full-face, some in profile, some are seated at right angles, some are stretched out horizontally, some are standing up straight. The atmosphere is transparent and singularly vibrant; the surface seems to fluctuate. Perhaps this sensation, which is also experienced in connection with other paintings in the same room, can be explained by the theory of Dove: the retina, expecting distinct rays of light to act on it, perceives in rapid alternation both the disassociated colored elements and their resultant color."
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Georges Seurat
Georges-Pierre Seurat (2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French Post-Impressionist painter and draftsman. He is noted for the color-technique of . His large-scale work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte (1884–1886) broke with Impressionism and initiated Neo-impressionism.
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